Don't crucify Ronnie Thwaites

Minister Ronnie Thwaites' announcement of the education ministry's policy to place children who sat the Grade Six Achievement Test should go to schools that are closer to their homes has caused a ruckus on social media.

The truth is that the classism in our schools needs to be addressed.

Schools are meant to be learning institutions, and in gearing our young ones to prepare for the future, no school should be seen as better than another.

It stands to reason that schools like Campion, Immaculate and others uptown are seen as top institutions where the bright kids go, while the ones like Excelsior, and some schools in rural Jamaica, are seen as places that dunce kids go.

Therefore, it stands to reason that in 2015, the Ministry of Education needs to do some serious studies and try to fix the school sector, which seems to be very broken.

If a child is going to attend a school that is cited as one of the 'dunce' schools, the mentality of that child is going to be different from that of a child going to one of the 'bright' schools.

We cannot expect our children to do their best when we have already told them that they are not able to do well.

All schools are learning institutions and should be seen as such. I suggest that before the minister goes ahead with this idea, he at first tries to fix what is broken so that all schools will offer the same equal opportunity of learning.